It was
moved by Osburn and seconded by Storey that the minutes from the meeting of October
28, 2009 be approved as presented.The
motion passed unanimously. A copy of
the minutes will be sent to the 24 property owners in the Historic District.

3.Certificate
of Appropriateness

Staff report on
administratively approved Certificates of Appropriateness (minor) since the
last meeting.(None)

4.Public Comments (not related to agenda
items)

None

5. New Business

a.Lighting Questions & Answers with City Engineer Brian McManus

Brian McManus, City Engineer, spoke about the street lighting program in
the city.There are about 3000 street
lights in the city.Consumers Energy
owns about 90 percent of those.The city
pays the electricity costs and Consumers Energy maintains the lights.The DDA/city owns about 10 percent of the
lights in the city.The DDA pays less
electricity as they own the fixtures themselves.They are maintained by the DDA/city.

Current budget constraints:

·Electricity charges from Consumers have risen over
30% in the last 2-3 years for street lights

·The electric bill is $600,000 and growing fast

·$500,000 liability to replace mercury vapor
fixtures.This funding has not been
determined yet. We have about 1000 mercury vapor lights in the city.

·Other communities have the same issues and some are
starting to turn street lights off.

The standard street light in the city is the “Cobra Head” style.They are owned by Consumers Energy.The city pays $100 to have them installed and
the city pays the electric bill.They
are spaced typically about 300 feet apart.

Some of the newer subdivisions in town have a decorative pole and
fixture.They are also Consumers Energy
owned.The subdivision owners install
them at a price of approximately $300 each.

There is a higher decorative standard light that is city/DDA owned.They were put throughout the DDA
District.The funding was donated or
paid for by the DDA. They are more
closely spaced and have underground electric.

There is another option out there that the city has not opted for
yet.They are highly decorative.They cost about $1000 per light paid by the
district.They have underground
electricity and are Consumers owned and maintained.

Engineering staff can approve standard installations with 500 foot gaps,
more or less, or other special situations.Decorative lights can be provided in
subdivisions with developer funding.These require staff approval.The
highly decorative lights are funded by financial mechanism and maintained by
the DDA.These require City Council
approval and must go through the project priority process.

There are eight (8) street lights in the West Main Street Historic
District.If the Commission wanted to
have a project that provided more decorative lights, as those have always been
paid for or supplied, they would have to go through a project priority process.Perhaps a special assessment district could
pay for the lights and installation.If
they were to be more decorative, they would also have to have underground
wiring.Mrs. Black asked if they should
pursue the funding and then ask for the lights or ask for the lights and then
pursue the funding.Mr. McManus stated
that when they go through the project priority process they like to see where
the funding is coming from.

Some communities are doing solar fixtures but that is an emerging
technology in Michigan.The City of
Midland has not done anything with solar fixture street lighting.

Mr. Osburn asked if the lighting requirements are different on major
thoroughfares compared to local streets.Mr. McManus stated they are a higher intensity on Saginaw Road than in
the residential districts.Some areas of
town are lit up more.On a 5-lane road,
you have street lights on both sides of the street.Where there are big box stores, they generate
a lot of light themselves so there are fewer street lights in those areas.

b.River Days Sidewalk Walking Tours – Black

Mrs. Black has already been talking with the Midland Area Community
Foundation about the walking tours of the Historic District during Riverdays
this summer, as they did last summer.The
tours this year will be July 16th, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.There will be a variety of activities going
on in Chippewassee Park, across the Tridge.These tours would only be from the sidewalk.They would not include going into the
resident’s homes.

c.Residential Historic Preservation Tax Credit – Black

Mr. Drummond Black described the Historic Preservation Tax Credit as it
applies to the District.The Michigan
Historic Preservation Tax Credit is what would apply to the District.There are three criteria:

1)All properties must be in a registered historic
district.They are looking to see if the
property is contributing to the historic nature of the district.The resource can be a dwelling, a park, or an
open space.If a structure is less than
50 years old it will generally not qualify.

2)All work must comply with the Secretary of
Interior’s Standards both inside and outside of the structure.Costs do not include purchasing of the
property or expansions of the resource outside of the historical
structure.You can go back as many as
five years from the date the project was approved.You can also go forward as many as five years
from the date the project was approved.

3)The qualified expenditures must be greater than or
equal to ten percent of the SEV of the property.

There are three steps to the application
process for the tax credit:

1)There needs
to be evidence that the property is within the historic district and that it
has historic significance.

2)Project description

3)Approval of the project – prior to beginning the
work.

The tax credit – Once the project has been approved, you can have a tax
credit against your Michigan Income Taxes of up to 25 percent of the cost of
the project.You may not be able to
claim it all in one year so you have the choice of carrying it forward for up
to five years or going back up to five years.You can also sell the tax credit to someone else.Once the improvements have been made, you are
locked in for five years with those improvements.You cannot do some other work in the interim
that would not fit with the Secretary’s Standards.If part of your project does not comply, you
are disqualified.